


The Fatherhood Chronicles - My Dad is a Superhero

by Aragarna



Series: The Fatherhood Chronicles [15]
Category: White Collar
Genre: Family, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-30
Updated: 2015-04-30
Packaged: 2018-03-26 10:18:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3847204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aragarna/pseuds/Aragarna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bedtime is a sacred bonding time for Peter and Little Neal. It's also time for some serious questions.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Fatherhood Chronicles - My Dad is a Superhero

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for Promptfest XI, just very slightly extended, for the prompt _Imagination_ , and inspired by dennih23.

As Neal grew up, bedtime remained a privileged moment between father and son. No matter the amount of work, the crazy cases, and the extra hours – which still happened every once in a while –, Peter would always at least make sure to be home in time to read a story to Neal. He had made the promise – to El, to his son, and also to himself – that he wouldn’t be that kind of father that can’t keep up with his son’s daily life.

Before Elizabeth would come to tuck Neal in, Peter would sit on the bed next to his son, Neal would pick a story for Peter to read, and Peter would tell him the stories of Winnie the Pooh and the naughty Tigger or Babar the elephant and his lovely wife, Celeste, and the old Cornelius. But the one that Neal loved the most and kept coming back to, was Spot the dog.

It was their own little moment, and it was sacred to both of them. Sometimes, they would talk about serious matters, too.

“Dad, do you have superpowers?”

Peter laughed. “No, Neal, I don’t have superpowers. Nobody has superpowers.”

“Superman does.”

“Superman doesn’t exist. It’s just a story.”

“Santa does.”

“Santa…” Peter stopped himself right in time. “Santa isn’t a superhero.”

“But he still has superpowers, so people can have superpowers, right?”

Peter wanted to argue that it was more magic than superpowers, which didn’t exist either. But the conversation was getting slippery and he’d rather not get into this kind of technical conversation about fairy tales and legends, what exists, and what doesn’t…

He shrugged. “I don’t have any superpower, that’s all.”

“But you’re still a superhero, right?”

Peter chuckled. “A superhero? Me? Where did you get that idea?”

“You said that your job was to stop the bad guys. That’s what superheroes do. Like Batman. Batman doesn’t have superpowers, but he’s still a superhero.”

Peter ruffled his son’s hair. “I’m not a superhero, I’m just an FBI agent. Like a cop, if you want.”

“But what’s the difference?”

“The difference is that…” Peter scratched his head and sighed. How do you explain the system of Justice and Law to a four years old? “I don’t have a secret identity.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t need one.”

“Why not?”

Peter winced. There was no way he was going to escape that one. Neal wouldn’t drop the subject until he got a satisfying answer… “I’m not hiding. My job is official. I’m more like Commissioner Gordon , if you will.”

“Ah.”

As Peter feared, Neal looked rather disappointed.

“But Gordon isn’t fun,” Neal said, “and he doesn’t catch the bad guys. He always needs the help of Batman and Robin.”

“Oh, but I don’t need Batman and Robin’s help. I can catch all the bad guys by myself.”

_Thank God, we don’t need the help of those vigilante nutcases who think they’re above the System…_ But that, Peter kept to himself. It was a conversation that would probably need Neal to be a little older.

“So you’re like both Gordon and Batman?” Neal asked, hopeful.

“I… guess,” Peter said. “Don’t you want me to continue the story instead?”

Neal looked at his father a moment and finally nodded. Peter resumed his reading, still smiling at the idea that his son thought he was a superhero. That kid sure had a lot of imagination…

\--------------------------------------------------------------  


  
Neal leaned on his dad’s shoulder to look at the images in the book. Neal loved when his dad was reading him stories. And he loved the adventures of Spot the dog. Spot looked a lot like Satchmo, and Satchmo was a good dog.

Later, after his mum and dad had kissed him a goodnight, Neal thought again about his conversation with his dad. Of course, he couldn’t tell him if he was a superhero. This was a secret. Maybe, when Neal would be older, his dad would tell him, and they’d chase the bad guys together. Like Batman and Robin.

He wondered if Batman read stories to Robin too.

 

 

To be Continued...


End file.
